Despite a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran, sporadic hostilities and continued uncertainty in the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world's most important energy and shipping corridors – continue to reverberate through global supply chains, pushing up transport and fuel costs and straining aid operations already grappling with severe funding shortfalls.
Speaking at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday, World Food Programme (WFP) Acting Executive Director Carl Skau said warnings issued earlier in the crisis about the knock-on effects of higher energy prices were now materialising in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.
“Just to illustrate that what we warned against is now playing out in real time in many of these contexts,” he told reporters.
Several weeks ago, WFP warned that if oil prices remained above $100 a barrel through July, as many as 45 million additional people could be pushed into hunger because of the close relationship between energy and food prices.
That pressure is already mounting: an additional 2.5 million people in Somalia have become acutely food insecure, while a further 2.3 million people have been pushed into acute hunger in Afghanistan and another 1.3 million in Sri Lanka.
The drivers differ from country to country, Mr. Skau said, but include rising food prices, underfunded humanitarian responses and sharply higher operating costs that reduce the number of people aid agencies can reach with available resources.
The longer-term outlook is equally troubling.
Mr. Skau warned that higher fertilizer costs could reduce agricultural productivity in east Africa during the coming planting season, echoing disruptions seen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and raising the prospect of additional food shortages months from now.
